Ayesha, the Return of She

by H. Rider Haggard

  CHAPTER XIV

  THE COURT OF DEATH

  Now the curtains were open. Before us appeared a chamber hollowed fromthe thickness of the altar, and in its centre a throne, and on thethrone a figure clad in waves of billowy white flowing from the headover the arms of the throne down to its marble steps. We could see nomore in the comparative darkness of that place, save that beneath thefolds of the drapery the Oracle held in its hand a loop-shaped, jewelledsceptre.

  Moved by some impulse, we did as Oros had done, prostrating ourselves,and there remained upon our knees. At length we heard a tinkling as oflittle bells, and, looking up, saw that the sistrum-shaped sceptre wasstretched towards us by the draped arm which held it. Then a thin, clearvoice spoke, and I thought that it trembled a little. It spoke in Greek,but in a much purer Greek than all these people used.

  "I greet you, Wanderers, who have journeyed so far to visit this mostancient shrine, and although doubtless of some other faith, are notashamed to do reverence to that unworthy one who is for this time itsOracle and the guardian of its mysteries. Rise now and have no fear ofme; for have I not sent my Messenger and servants to conduct you to thisSanctuary?"

  Slowly we rose, and stood silent, not knowing what to say.

  "I greet you, Wanderers," the voice repeated. "Tell me thou"--and thesceptre pointed towards Leo--"how art thou named?"

  "I am named Leo Vincey," he answered.

  "Leo Vincey! I like the name, which to me well befits a man so goodly.And thou, the companion of--Leo Vincey?"

  "I am named Horace Holly."

  "So. Then tell me, Leo Vincey and Horace Holly, what came ye so far toseek?"

  We looked at each other, and I said--"The tale is long and strange.O--but by what title must we address thee?"

  "By the name which I bear here, Hes."

  "O Hes," I said, wondering what name she bore elsewhere.

  "Yet I desire to hear that tale," she went on, and to me her voicesounded eager. "Nay, not all to-night, for I know that you both areweary; a little of it only. In sooth, Strangers, there is a sameness inthis home of contemplations, and no heart can feed only on the past, ifsuch a thing there be. Therefore I welcome a new history from the worldwithout. Tell it me, thou, Leo, as briefly as thou wilt, so that thoutell the truth, for in the Presence of which I am a Minister, maynothing else be uttered."

  "Priestess," he said, in his curt fashion, "I obey. Many years ago whenI was young, my friend and foster-father and I, led by records of thepast, travelled to a wild land, and there found a certain divine womanwho had conquered time."

  "Then that woman must have been both aged and hideous."

  "I said, Priestess, that she had conquered time, not suffered it, forthe gift of immortal youth was hers. Also she was not hideous; she wasbeauty itself."

  "Therefore stranger, thou didst worship her for her beauty's sake, as aman does."

  "I did not worship her; I loved her, which is another thing. The priestOros here worships thee, whom he calls Mother. I loved that immortalwoman."

  "Then thou shouldst love her still. Yet, not so, since love is verymortal."

  "I love her still," he answered, "although she died."

  "Why, how is that? Thou saidst she was immortal."

  "Perchance she only seemed to die; perchance she changed. At least Ilost her, and what I lost I seek, and have sought this many a year."

  "Why dost thou seek her in my Mountain, Leo Vincey?"

  "Because a vision led me to ask counsel of its Oracle. I am come hitherto learn tidings of my lost love, since here alone these may be found."

  "And thou, Holly, didst thou also love an immortal woman whoseimmortality, it seems, must bow to death?"

  "Priestess," I answered, "I am sworn to this quest, and where myfoster-son goes I follow. He follows beauty that is dead----"

  "And thou dost follow him. Therefore both of you follow beauty as menhave ever done, being blind and mad."

  "Nay," I answered, "if they were blind, beauty would be naught to themwho could not see it, and if they were mad, they would not know it whenit was seen. Knowledge and vision belong to the wise, O Hes."

  "Thou art quick of wit and tongue, Holly, as----" and she checkedherself, then of a sudden, said, "Tell me, did my servant the Khania ofKaloon entertain both of you hospitably in her city, and speed you onyour journey hither, as I commanded her?"

  "We knew not that she was thy servant," I replied. "Hospitality wehad and to spare, but we were sped from her Court hitherward by thedeath-hounds of the Khan, her husband. Tell us, Priestess, what thouknowest of this journey of ours."

  "A little," she answered carelessly. "More than three moons ago myspies saw you upon the far mountains, and, creeping very close to you atnight, heard you speak together of the object of your wanderings, then,returning thence swiftly, made report to me. Thereon I bade the KhaniaAtene, and that old magician her great-uncle, who is Guardian of theGate, go down to the ancient gates of Kaloon to receive you and bringyou hither with all speed. Yet for men who burned to learn the answer toa riddle, you have been long in coming."

  "We came as fast as we might, O Hes," said Leo; "and if thy spies couldvisit those mountains, where no man was, and find a path down thathideous precipice, they must have been able also to tell thee the reasonof our delay. Therefore I pray, ask it not of us."

  "Nay, I will ask it of Atene herself, and she shall surely answer me,for she stands without," replied the Hesea in a cold voice. "Oros, leadthe Khania hither and be swift."

  The priest turned and walking quickly to the wooden doors by which wehad entered the shrine, vanished there.

  "Now," said Leo to me nervously in the silence that followed, andspeaking in English, "now I wish we were somewhere else, for I thinkthat there will be trouble."

  "I don't think, I am sure," I answered; "but the more the better,for out of trouble may come the truth, which we need sorely." Then Istopped, reflecting that the strange woman before us said that her spieshad overheard our talk upon the mountains, where we had spoken nothingbut English.

  As it proved, I was wise, for quite quietly the Hesea repeated afterme--"Thou hast experience, Holly, for out of trouble comes the truth, asout of wine."

  Then she was silent, and, needless to say, I did not pursue theconversation.

  The doors swung open, and through them came a procession clad in black,followed by the Shaman Simbri, who walked in front of a bier, upon whichlay the body of the Khan, carried by eight priests. Behind it was Atene,draped in a black veil from head to foot, and after her marched anothercompany of priests. In front of the altar the bier was set down and thepriests fell back, leaving Atene and her uncle standing alone before thecorpse.

  "What seeks my vassal, the Khania of Kaloon?" asked the Hesea in a coldvoice.

  Now Atene advanced and bent the knee, but with little graciousness.

  "Ancient Mother, Mother from of old, I do reverence to thy holy Office,as my forefathers have done for many a generation," and again shecurtseyed. "Mother, this dead man asks of thee that right of sepulchrein the fires of the holy Mountain which from the beginning has beenaccorded to the royal departed who went before him."

  "It has been accorded as thou sayest," answered the Hesea, "by thosepriestesses who filled my place before me, nor shall it be refused tothy dead lord--or to thee Atene--when thy time comes."

  "I thank thee, O Hes, and I pray that this decree may be written down,for the snows of age have gathered on thy venerable head and soon thoumust leave us for awhile. Therefore bid thy scribes that it be writtendown, so that the Hesea who rules after thee may fulfil it in itsseason."

  "Cease," said the Hesea, "cease to pour out thy bitterness at that whichshould command thy reverence, oh! thou foolish child, who dost not knowbut that to-morrow the fire shall claim the frail youth and beauty whichare thy boast. I bid thee cease, and tell me how did death find thislord of thine?"

  "Ask those wanderers yonder, that were his guests, for his blood is ontheir
heads and cries for vengeance at thy hands."

  "I killed him," said Leo, "to save my own life. He tried to hunt us downwith his dogs, and there are the marks of them," and he pointed to myarm. "The priest Oros knows, for he dressed the hurts."

  "How did this chance?" asked the Hesea of Atene.

  "My lord was mad," she answered boldly, "and such was his cruel sport."

  "So. And was thy lord jealous also? Nay, keep back the falsehood I seerising to thy lips. Leo Vincey, answer thou me. Yet, I will not ask theeto lay bare the secrets of a woman who has offered thee her love. Thou,Holly, speak, and let it be the truth."

  "It is this, O Hes," I answered. "Yonder lady and her uncle the ShamanSimbri saved us from death in the waters of the river that boundsthe precipices of Kaloon. Afterwards we were ill, and they treated uskindly, but the Khania became enamoured of my foster-son."

  Here the figure of the Priestess stirred beneath its gauzy wrappings,and the Voice asked--"And did thy foster-son become enamoured of theKhania, as being a man he may well have done, for without doubt she isfair?"

  "He can answer that question for himself, O Hes. All I know is that hestrove to escape from her, and that in the end she gave him a day tochoose between death and marriage with her, when her lord should bedead. So, helped by the Khan, her husband, who was jealous of him, wefled towards this Mountain, which we desired to reach. Then the Khan sethis hounds upon us, for he was mad and false-hearted. We killed him andcame on in spite of this lady, his wife, and her uncle, who would haveprevented us, and were met in a Place of Bones by a certain veiledguide, who led us up the Mountain and twice saved us from death. That isall the story."

  "Woman, what hast thou to say?" asked the Hesea in a menacing voice.

  "But little," Atene answered, without flinching. "For years I have beenbound to a madman and a brute, and if my fancy wandered towards this manand his fancy wandered towards me--well, Nature spoke to us, and that isall. Afterwards it seems that he grew afraid of the vengeance of Rassen,or this Holly, whom I would that the hounds had torn bone from bone,grew afraid. So they strove to escape the land, and perchance wanderedto thy Mountain. But I weary of this talk, and ask thy leave to restbefore to-morrow's rite."

  "Thou sayest, Atene," said the Hesea, "that Nature spoke to this manand to thee, and that his heart is thine; but that, fearing thy lord'svengeance, he fled from thee, he who seems no coward. Tell me, then,is that tress he hides in the satchel on his breast thy gage of love tohim?"

  "I know nothing of what he hides in the satchel," answered the Khaniasullenly.

  "And yet, yonder in the Gatehouse when he lay so sick he set the lockagainst thine own--ah, dost remember now?"

  "So, O Hes, already he has told thee all our secrets, though theybe such as most men hide within their breasts;" and she lookedcontemptuously at Leo.

  "I told her nothing of the matter, Khania," Leo said in an angry voice.

  "Nay, _thou_ toldest me nothing, Wanderer; my watching wisdom told me.Oh, didst thou think, Atene, that thou couldst hide the truth from theall-seeing Hesea of the Mountain? If so, spare thy breath, for I knowall, and have known it from the first. I passed thy disobedience by; ofthy false messages I took no heed. For my own purposes I, to whom timeis naught, suffered even that thou shouldst hold these, my guests, thyprisoners whilst thou didst strive by threats and force to win a lovedenied."

  She paused, then went on coldly: "Woman, I tell thee that, to completethy sin, thou hast even dared to lie to me here, in my very Sanctuary."

  "If so, what of it?" was the bold answer. "Dost thou love the manthyself? Nay, it is monstrous. Nature would cry aloud at such a shame.Oh! tremble not with rage. Hes, I know thy evil powers, but I know alsothat I am thy guest, and that in this hallowed place, beneath yondersymbol of eternal Love, thou may'st shed no blood. More, thou canst notharm me, Hes, who am thy equal."

  "Atene," replied the measured Voice, "did I desire it, I could destroythee where thou art. Yet thou art right, I shall not harm thee, thoufaithless servant. Did not my writ bid thee through yonder searcherof the stars, thy uncle, to meet these guests of mine and bring themstraight to my shrine? Tell me, for I seek to know, how comes it thatthou didst disobey me?"

  "Have then thy desire," answered Atene in a new and earnest voice,devoid now of bitterness and falsehood. "I disobeyed because that man isnot thine, but mine, and no other woman's; because I love him and haveloved him from of old. Aye, since first our souls sprang into life Ihave loved him, as he has loved me. My own heart tells me so; the magicof my uncle here tells me so, though how and where and when these thingshave been I know not. Therefore I come to thee, Mother of Mysteries,Guardian of the secrets of the past, to learn the truth. At least _thou_canst not lie at thine own altar, and I charge thee, by the dread nameof that Power to which thou also must render thy account, that thouanswer now and here.

  "Who is this man to whom my being yearns? What has he been to me? Whathas he to do with thee? Speak, O Oracle and make the secret clear.Speak, I command, even though afterwards thou dost slay me--if thoucanst."

  "Aye, speak! speak!" said Leo, "for know I am in sore suspense. I alsoam bewildered by memories and rent with hopes and fears."

  And I too echoed, "Speak!"

  "Leo Vincey," asked the Hesea, after she had thought awhile, "whom dostthou believe me to be?"

  "I believe," he answered solemnly, "that thou art that Ayesha at whosehands I died of old in the Caves of Kor in Africa. I believe thou artthat Ayesha whom not twenty years ago I found and loved in those sameCaves of Kor, and there saw perish miserably, swearing that thou wouldstreturn again."

  "See now, how madness can mislead a man," broke in Atene triumphantly."'Not twenty years ago,' he said, whereas I know well that more thaneighty summers have gone by since my grandsire in his youth saw thissame priestess sitting on the Mother's throne."

  "And whom dost thou believe me to be, O Holly?" the Priestess asked,taking no note of the Khania's words.

  "What he believes I believe," I answered. "The dead come back tolife--sometimes. Yet alone thou knowest the truth, and by thee only itcan be revealed."

  "Aye," she said, as though musing, "the dead come back tolife--sometimes--and in strange shape, and, mayhap, I know the truth.To-morrow when yonder body is borne on high for burial we will speakof it again. Till then rest you all, and prepare to face that fearfulthing--the Truth."

  While the Hesea still spoke the silvery curtains swung to their placeas mysteriously as they had opened. Then, as though at some signal, theblack-robed priests advanced. Surrounding Atene, they led her from theSanctuary, accompanied by her uncle the Shaman, who, as it seemed to me,either through fatigue or fear, could scarcely stand upon his feet, butstood blinking his dim eyes as though the light dazed him. When thesewere gone, the priests and priestesses, who all this time had beenranged round the walls, far out of hearing of our talk, gatheredthemselves into their separate companies, and still chanting, departedalso, leaving us alone with Oros and the corpse of the Khan, whichremained where it had been set down.

  Now the head-priest Oros beckoned to us to follow him, and we wentalso. Nor was I sorry to leave the place, for its death-likeloneliness--enhanced, strangely enough, as it was, by the flood of lightthat filled it; a loneliness which was concentrated and expressed in theawful figure stretched upon the bier, oppressed and overcame us, whosenerves were broken by all that we had undergone. Thankful enough was Iwhen, having passed the transepts and down the length of the vast nave,we came to the iron doors, the rock passage, and the outer gates, which,as before, opened to let us through, and so at last into the sweet, coldair of the night at that hour which precedes the dawn.

  Oros led us to a house well-built and furnished, where at his bidding,like men in a dream, we drank of some liquor which he gave us. I thinkthat drink was drugged, at least after swallowing it I remembered nomore till I awoke to find myself lying on a bed and feeling wonderfullystrong and well. This I thought strange, for a lamp burni
ng in the roomshowed me that it was still dark, and therefore that I could have restedbut a little time.

  I tried to sleep again, but was not able, so fell to thinking till Igrew weary of the task. For here thoughts would not help me; nothingcould help, except the truth, "that fearful thing," as the veiledPriestess had called it.

  Oh! what if she should prove not the Ayesha whom we desired, but some"fearful thing"? What were the meaning of the Khania's hints and ofher boldness, that surely had been inspired by the strength of a hiddenknowledge? What if--nay, it could not be--I would rise and dress my arm.Or I would wake Leo and make him dress it--anything to occupy my minduntil the appointed hour, when we must learn--the best--or the worst.

  I sat up in the bed and saw a figure advancing towards me. It was Oros,who bore a lamp in his hand.

  "You have slept long, friend Holly," he said, "and now it is time to beup and doing."

  "Long?" I answered testily. "How can that be, when it is still dark?"

  "Because, friend, the dark is that of a new night. Many hours have goneby since you lay down upon this bed. Well, you were wise to rest youwhile you may, for who knows when you will sleep again! Come, let mebathe your arm."

  "Tell me," I broke in----"Nay, friend," he interrupted firmly, "I willtell you nothing, except that soon you must start to be present atthe funeral of the Khan, and, perchance, to learn the answer to yourquestions."

  Ten minutes later he led me to the eating-chamber of the house, where Ifound Leo already dressed, for Oros had awakened him before he came tome and bidden him to prepare himself. Oros told us here that the Heseahad not suffered us to be disturbed until the night came again since wehad much to undergo that day. So presently we started.

  Once more we were led through the flame-lit hall till we came to theloop-shaped apse. The place was empty now, even the corpse of the Khanhad gone, and no draped Oracle sat in the altar shrine, for its silvercurtains were drawn, and we saw that it was untenanted.

  "The Mother has departed to do honour to the dead, according to theancient custom," Oros explained to us.

  Then we passed the altar, and behind the statue found a door in therock wall of the apse, and beyond the door a passage, and a hall as of ahouse, for out of it opened other doors leading to chambers. These, ourguide told us, were the dwelling-places of the Hesea and her maidens.He added that they ran to the side of the Mountain and had windows thatopened on to gardens and let in the light and air. In this hall sixpriests were waiting, each of whom carried a bundle of torches beneathhis arm and held in his hand a lighted lamp.

  "Our road runs through the dark," said Oros, "though were it day wemight climb the outer snows, but this at night it is dangerous to do."

  Then taking torches, he lit them at a lamp and gave one to each of us.

  Now our climb began. Up endless sloping galleries we went, hewn withinconceivable labour by the primeval fire-worshippers from the livingrock of the Mountain. It seemed to me that they stretched for miles, andindeed this was so, since, although the slope was always gentle, it tookus more than an hour to climb them. At length we came to the foot of agreat stair.

  "Rest awhile here, my lord," Oros said, bowing to Leo with the reverencethat he had shown him from the first, "for this stair is steep and long.Now we stand upon the Mountain's topmost lip, and are about to climbthat tall looped column which soars above."

  So we sat down in the vault-like place and let the sharp draught of airrushing to and from the passages play upon us, for we were heated withjourneying up those close galleries. As we sat thus I heard a roaringsound and asked Oros what it might be. He answered that we were verynear to the crater of the volcano, and that what we heard through thethickness of the rock was the rushing of its everlasting fires. Then theascent commenced.

  It was not dangerous though very wearisome, for there were nearly sixhundred of those steps. The climb of the passages had reminded me ofthat of the gallery of the Great Pyramid drawn out for whole furlongs;that of the pillar was like the ascent of a cathedral spire, or ratherof several spires piled one upon another.

  Resting from time to time, we dragged ourselves up the steep steps, eachof them quite a foot in height, till the pillar was climbed and only theloop remained. Up it we went also, Oros leading us, and glad was I thatthe stairway still ran within the substance of the rock, for I couldfeel the needle's mighty eye quiver in the rush of the winds which sweptabout its sides.

  At length we saw light before us, and in another twenty steps emergedupon a platform. As Leo, who went in front of me, walked from thestairway I saw Oros and another priest seize him by the arms, and calledto him to ask what they were doing.

  "Nothing," he cried back, "except that this is a dizzy place and theyfeared lest I should fall. Mind how you come, Horace," and he stretchedout his hand to me.

  Now I was clear of the tunnel, and I believe that had it not been forthat hand I should have sunk to the rocky floor, for the sight before meseemed to paralyse my brain. Nor was this to be wondered at, for I doubtwhether the world can show such another.

  We stood upon the very apex of the loop, a flat space of rock abouteighty yards in length by some thirty in breadth, with the star-strewnsky above us. To the south, twenty thousand feet or more below,stretched the dim Plain of Kaloon, and to the east and west thesnow-clad shoulders of the peak and the broad brown slopes beneath.To the north was a different sight, and one more awesome. There, rightunder us as it seemed, for the pillar bent inwards, lay the vast craterof the volcano, and in the centre of it a wide lake of fire that brokeinto bubbles and flowers of sudden flame or spouted, writhed and twistedlike an angry sea.

  From the surface of this lake rose smoke and gases that took fire asthey floated upwards, and, mingling together, formed a gigantic sheet ofliving light. Right opposite to us burned this sheet and, the flare ofit passing through the needle-eye of the pillar under us, sped away inone dazzling beam across the country of Kaloon, across the mountainsbeyond, till it was lost on the horizon.

  The wind blew from south to north, being sucked in towards the hotcrater of the volcano, and its fierce breath, that screamed through theeye of the pillar and against its rugged surface, bent the long crestof the sheet of flame, as an ocean roller is bent over by the gale, andtore from it fragments of fire, that floated away to leeward like theblown-out sails of a burning ship.

  Had it not been for this strong and steady wind indeed, no creaturecould have lived upon the pillar, for the vapours would have poisonedhim; but its unceasing blast drove these all away towards the north. Forthe same reason, in the thin air of that icy place the heat was not toogreat to be endured.

  Appalled by that terrific spectacle, which seemed more appropriate tothe terrors of the Pit than to this earth of ours, and fearful lest theblast should whirl me like a dead leaf into the glowing gulf beneath, Ifell on to my sound hand and my knees, shouting to Leo to do likewise,and looked about me. Now I observed lines of priests wrapped in greatcapes, kneeling upon the face of the rock and engaged apparently inprayer, but of Hes the Mother, or of Atene, or of the corpse of the deadKhan I could see nothing.

  Whilst I wondered where they might be, Oros, upon whose nerves thisdread scene appeared to have no effect, and some of our attendantpriests surrounded us and led us onwards by a path that ran perilouslynear to the rounded edge of the rock. A few downward steps and we foundthat we were under shelter, for the gale was roaring over us. Twentymore paces and we came to a recess cut, I suppose, by man in the faceof the loop, in such fashion that a lava roof was left projecting halfacross its width.

  This recess, or rock chamber, which was large enough to shelter a greatnumber of people, we reached safely, to discover that it was alreadytenanted. Seated in a chair hewn from the rock was the Hesea, wearinga broidered, purple mantle above her gauzy wrappings that envelopedher from head to foot. There, too, standing near to her were the KhaniaAtene and her uncle the old Shaman, who looked but ill at ease, andlastly, stretched upon his funeral couch, t
he fiery light beating uponhis stark form and face, lay the dead Khan, Rassen.

  We advanced to the throne and bowed to her who sat thereon. The Hesealifted her hooded head, which seemed to have been sunk upon her breastas though she were overcome by thought or care, and addressed Oros thepriest. For in the shelter of those massive walls by comparison therewas silence and folk could hear each other speak.

  "So thou hast brought them safely, my servant," she said, "and I amglad, for to those that know it not this road is fearful. My guests,what say you of the burying-pit of the Children of Hes?"

  "Our faith tells us of a hell, lady," answered Leo, "and I think thatyonder cauldron looks like its mouth."

  "Nay," she answered, "there is no hell, save that which from life tolife we fashion for ourselves within the circle of this little star. LeoVincey, I tell thee that hell is here, aye, _here_," and she struck herhand upon her breast, while once more her head drooped forward as thoughbowed down beneath some load of secret misery.

  Thus she stayed awhile, then lifted it and spoke again,saying--"Midnight is past, and much must be done and suffered before thedawn. Aye, the darkness must be turned to light, or perchance the lightto eternal darkness."

  "Royal woman," she went on, addressing Atene, "as is his right, thouhast brought thy dead lord hither for burial in this consecrated place,where the ashes of all who went before him have become fuel for theholy fires. Oros, my priest, summon thou the Accuser and him who makesdefence, and let the books be opened that I may pass my judgment on thedead, and call his soul to live again, or pray that from it the breathof life may be withheld.

  "Priest, I say the Court of Death is open."